UN vaccinates children against polio in central Gaza amid Israeli war

By Mustafa Haboush

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) launched a polio vaccination campaign for children under the age of 10 in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.

“Children in Gaza have started receiving polio vaccines this morning,” the UN agency said in a statement.

“The vaccination campaign has begun in the Gaza middle area, where over 200 of our teams are administrating vaccines in 28 UNRWA health facilities and going tent to tent.”

UNRWA has provided a map detailing the vaccination centers in central Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians have flocked to these centers to vaccinate their children against polio, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Medical teams at vaccination centers in the central city of Deir al-Balah have observed signs of fatigue and malnutrition among many children receiving vaccinations due to harsh conditions resulting from Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which have persisted for nearly eleven months.

The campaign, which is being conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, focuses on central Gaza from Sept. 1 to 4, followed by Khan Younis from Sept. 5 to 9, and will conclude in Gaza City and the northern regions from Sept. 9 to 12, according to official sources.

On August 16, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a seven-day humanitarian truce to allow for a polio vaccination campaign targeting 640,000 children. This call was supported by UNRWA. The request followed the Palestinian Health Ministry’s announcement of the first confirmed polio case in Gaza, affecting a ten-month-old child.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The onslaught has resulted in over 40,700 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 94,100 injuries, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi